There Was No Passing in Formula One This Year

Welcome to The Grid, R&T's quick roundup of the auto industry and motorsports news you should know this morning.

Nobody Made Passes in F1 This Year

We finally have quantitative evidence that there is no passing in Formula One and that the races are all parades. According to data from Pirelli, in 2016 there were 866 on track passes. In 2017, that number was .

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It's a confirmation that the wider, grippier 2017 cars may be faster but are not as good for passing. It's the least passing since 2009, which had 211 on track moves. And the dull Sochi track for the Russian Grand Prix had the fewest passes in a race for the season with just one recorded pass.

Tesla Wins

Tesla's no dealership sales model has been met with issues in a number of states that have requirements for cars to be sold through dealers. One of those states was Missouri.

In 2015, when Tesla opened its first stores in the state, it was immediately met with complaints from the dealer groups, which sued, and successfully so. Tesla briefly shut its stores but then appealed, and were allowed to continue operating under appeal. , meaning the stores can continue to operate unfettered.

Honda's Hopes

If you haven't heard, Honda's return to Formula One with McLaren hasn't gone that well. So 'not well' that McLaren dropped the engine manufacturer in favor of Renault for 2018. Toro Rosso picked up Honda's supply for 2018.

Now, Honda expects that . Yusuke Hasegawa, the head of Honda's F1 program, has said that the manufacturer is working flat out to make sure that the power unit will fit the Toro Rosso chassis and believe the partnership they're working towards will be more equal.

End of Gas in California

California is the US's largest market for cars. And, if one state assemblyman has his way, it could become powered cars.

Assemblyman Phil Ting is planning to introduce a bill that'd ban the sale of gas powered cars in the state by 2040, only allowing the DMV to register clean cars like battery or hydrogen powered models. It'll be interesting to see if it gets adopted.